Tech
Microsoft has new use for plug-ins
SEATTLE--Hardware designers should feel free to re-use existing plug-in methods originally designed for tiny storage devices but also useful for more sophisticated devices, said Jeremy Cahill, a program manager with Microsoft's operating system team. Memory stick, CompactFlash and Secure Digital all were designed as simple ways to plug flash memory into small gadgets such as handheld computers or digital cameras, but those interfaces also can be recycled for a new generation of devices, including Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless communications systems, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, modems, digital cameras and Ethernet adapters, he said at Microsoft's WinHEC conference for hardware engineers. Microsoft's advice is to also recycle connection software such as Universal Serial Bus or IEEE 1394 "Firewire" to make it easier to support such devices in Windows, Cahill said Tuesday. --Stephen Shankland, Special to ZDNet News
SEATTLE--Hardware designers should feel free to re-use existing plug-in methods originally designed for tiny storage devices but also useful for more sophisticated devices, said Jeremy Cahill, a program manager with Microsoft's operating system team. Memory stick, CompactFlash and Secure Digital all were designed as simple ways to plug flash memory into small gadgets such as handheld computers or digital cameras, but those interfaces also can be recycled for a new generation of devices, including Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless communications systems, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, modems, digital cameras and Ethernet adapters, he said at Microsoft's WinHEC conference for hardware engineers.
Microsoft's advice is to also recycle connection software such as Universal Serial Bus or IEEE 1394 "Firewire" to make it easier to support such devices in Windows, Cahill said Tuesday. --Stephen Shankland, Special to ZDNet News